For the past several days, I faced a strange issue in my system running Ubuntu Linux. I use Firefox and Brave browsers. Everything was normal in Firefox but Brave keeps on detecting a network change on almost every refresh.
This went on to the extent that it became impossible to use the browser. I could not use Feedly to browse feeds from my favorite websites, every search result ends in multiple refresh, websites needed to be refreshed multiple times as well.
As an alternative, I tried installing Chrome on Ubuntu. The problem remained the same. I installed Microsoft Edge on Linux and yet, the problem persisted there as well. Basically, any Chromium-based browser keep encountering the ERR_NETWORK_CHANGED error.
Luckily, I found a way to fix the issue. I am going to share the steps with you so that it helps you if you are also facing the same problem.
Fixing frequent network change detection issues in Chromium based browsers
The trick that worked for me was to disable IPv6 in the network settings. Now, I am not sure why this happens but I know that IPv6 is known to create network problems in many systems. If your system, router and other devices use IPv6 instead of the good old IPv4, you may encounter network connection issues like the one I encountered.
Thankfully, it is not that difficult to disable IPv6 in Ubuntu. There are several ways to do that and I am going to share the easiest method perhaps. This method uses GRUB to disable IPv6.
Attention Beginners!
If you are not too comfortable with the command line and terminal, please pay extra attention on the steps. Read the instructions carefully.
Step 1: Open GRUB config file for editing
Open the terminal. Now use the following command to edit the GRUB config file in Nano editor. You’ll have to enter your account’s password.
sudo nano /etc/default/grub
I hope you know a little bit about using Nano editor. Use the arrow keys to go to the line starting with GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX. Make its value look like this:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="ipv6.disable=1"
Be careful of the inverted commas and spaces. Don’t touch other lines.
Save your changes by using the Ctrl+x keys. It will ask you to confirm the changes. Press Y or enter when asked.
Step 2: Update grub
You have made changes to the GRUB bootloader configuration. These changes won’t be taken into account until you update grub. Use the command below for that:
sudo update-grub
Now when you restart your system, IPv6 will be disabled for your networks. You should not encounter the network interruption issue anymore.
You may think why I didn’t mention disabling IPv6 from the network settings. It’s because Ubuntu uses Netplan to manage network configuration these days and it seems that changes in Network Manager are not fully taken into account by Netplan. I tried it but despite IPv6 being disabled in the Network Manager, the problem didn’t go away until I used the command line method.
Even after so many years, IPv6 support has not matured and it keeps causing trouble. Disabling IPv6 sometimes improve WiFi speed in Linux. Weird, I know.
Anyway, I hope this trick helps you with the network change detection issue in your system as well.
/e/ Android operating system is a privacy oriented, Google-free mobile operating system, fork of Lineage OS and was founded in mid-2018 by Gaël Duval, creator of Mandrake Linux (now Mandriva Linux).
Despite making Android an open source project in 2007, Google replaced some OS elements with proprietary software when Android gained popularity. /e/ Foundation has replaced the proprietary apps and services with MicroG, an open source alternative framework which minimizes tracking and device activity.
It’s FOSS received Fairphone 3 with /e/ OS preinstalled, an ethically created smartphone from the /e/ Foundation. I used the device for a month before returning it to them and I am going to share my experience with this privacy device. I forgot to take screenshots so I’ll be sharing the generic images from the official website.
Experiencing the /e/ mobile operating system on the ethical Fairphone device
Before I go any further, let me clear that Fairphone 3 is not the only option to get /e/ in your hands. The /e/ foundation gives you a few smartphone options to choose if you are buying a device from them.
Despite I enjoyed using the Fairphone 3, and my personal beliefs are in line with the Fairphone manifesto, I won’t focus my attention on the device but to the /e/ operating system only.
Apps with rated privacy
I used Fairphone 3 as my daily driver for a couple of days, to compare the usage with my “ordinary” Android phone in reality.
First and foremost I wanted to see if all the apps that I use, are available at the “App Store” /e/ foundation has created. The /e/ App Store contains apps with privacy ratings.
/e/ OS app store has privacy ratings of the apps
I could find many applications, including apps from Google. This means that if someone really wants to use some Google service, it is still available as an option to download. Though unlike other Andriod devices, Google services are not forced down your throat.
Though there are lot of apps available, I could not find the mobile banking app I use in the UK. I have to admit that the mobile banking app can contribute to a level of convenience. As an alternative, I had to access a computer to use the online banking platform if needed.
From a usability point of view, /e/ OS could replace my “standard” Android OS with minor hiccups like the banking apps.
If not Google, then what?
Wondering what essential apps /e/ OS uses instead of the ones from Google? Here’s a quick list:
The default launcher application of /e/ OS is called “Bliss Launcher” which aims to an attractive look and feel. To me, the design felt similar to iOS.
By Swiping to the left panel, you can access a few useful widgets /e/ has selected.
Search: Quick search of pre-installed apps or search the web
APP Suggestions: The top 4 most used apps will appear on this widget
Weather: The weather widget is showing the local weather. It doesn’t automatically detect the location and it needs to be configured.
Edit: If you want more widgets on the screen, you can add them by clicking the edit button
All in all, the user interface is clean and neat. Being simple and straightforward enhances a pleasant user experience.
DeGoogled and privacy oriented OS
As mentioned earlier /e/ OS is a Google-free operating system which is based on an open source core of Lineage OS. All the Google apps have been removed and the Google services have been replaced with the Micro G framework. The /e/ OS is still compatible with all Android apps.
Key privacy features:
Google search engine has been replaced with alternatives such as DuckDuckGo
Google Services have been replaced by microG framework
Alternative default apps are used instead of Google Apps
Connectivity check against Google servers is removed
NTP servers have been replaced with the standard NTP service: pool.ntp.orgs
DNS default servers are replaced by 9.9.9.9 and can be edited to user’s choice
Geolocation is using Mozilla Location Services on top of GPS
Privacy notice
Please be mindful that using a smartphone, provided by /e/ foundation doesn’t automatically mean that your privacy is guaranteed no matter what you do. Social media apps that share your personal information should be used under your awareness.
Conclusion
I have been an Android user for more than a decade. /e/ OS surprised me positively. A privacy concerned user can find this solution very appealing, and depending on the selected apps and settings can feel secure again using a smartphone.
I could recommend it to you if you are a privacy aware tech-savvy and can find your way around things on your own. The /e/ ecosystem is likely to be overwhelming for people who are used to of mainstream Google services.
Have you used /e/ OS? How was your experience with it? What do you think of projects like these that focus on privacy?
Brief:OpenRGB is a useful open-source utility to manage all your RGB lighting under a single roof. Let’s find out more about it.
No matter whether it is your keyboard, mouse, CPU fan, AIO, and other connected peripherals or components, Linux does not have official software support to control the RGB lighting.
And, OpenRGB seems to be an all-in-one RGB lighting control utility for Linux.
OpenRGB: An All-in-One RGB Lighting Control Center
Yes, you may find different tools to tweak the settings like Piper to specifically configure a gaming mouse on Linux. But, if you have a variety of components or peripherals, it will be a cumbersome task to set them all to your preference of RGB color.
OpenRGB is an impressive utility that not only focuses on Linux but also available for Windows and macOS.
It is not just an idea to have all the RGB lighting settings under one roof, but it aims to get rid of all the bloatware apps that you need to install to tweak lighting settings.
Even if you are using a Windows-powered machine, you probably know that software tools like Razer Synapse are resource hogs and come with their share of issues. So, OpenRGB is not just limited for Linux users but for every user looking to tweak RGB settings.
It supports a long list of devices, but you should not expect support for everything.
Features of OpenRGB
It empowers you with many useful functionalities while offering a simple user experience. Some of the features are:
Lightweight user interface
Cross-platform support
Ability to extend functionality using plugins
Set colors and effects
Ability to save and load profiles
View device information
Connect multiple instances of OpenRGB to synchronize lighting across multiple PCs
Along with all the above-mentioned features, you get a good control over the lighting zones, color mode, colors, and more.
Installing OpenRGB in Linux
You can find AppImage files and DEB packages on their official website. For Arch Linux users, you can also find it in AUR.
The official website should let you download packages for other platforms as well. But, if you want to explore more about it or compile it yourself, head to its GitLab page.
Even though I do not have many RGB-enabled devices/components, I could tweak my Logitech G502 mouse successfully.
I would definitely recommend you to give it a try if you want to get rid of multiple applications and use a lightweight interface to manage all your RGB lighting.
Have you tried it already? Feel free to share what you think about it in the comments!
I always use two browsers on my system. Firefox is the primary browser and these days Brave is what I rely for my second browser.
Brave browser is an excellent choice for someone who wants a Chrome/Chromium feel without the Google touch. It blocks ads and trackers by default and warns you against websites, downloads and extensions that are known to be dangerous. It also has an optional cryptocurrency ecosystem to reward its users and web publishers.
I like Brave for a fast, smooth browsing experience. It works on smartphones as well. As I said, quite a good choice for a mainstream browser.
There is one minor annoyance with Brave browser. If you download any file, the default behavior is that it asks where to save the file on your computer.
Brave browser asks where to save downloaded files each time
It does this for every single file you try to download using Brave browser in Linux and probably in other operating systems as well.
This annoys the heck out of me and if you share the same feeling, let me tell you that you can easily change this behavior.
Automatically save downloaded files in Brave browser
To get rid of this annoyance, here’s what you need to do.
Go to the download settings of Brave browser. You can either enter brave://settings/downloads in the address bar or access the Settings option from the hamburger menu.
Access Brave browser settings
And then, expand the Additional settings option to access the download settings. You’ll find a “Ask where to save each file before downloading” option with toggle button. Toggle this button off to start saving the downloaded files automatically.
Toggle the button off
You may also change the default download location in the settings here, if you want.
I know this is not something extraordinary and you might think if it really warranted an entire article. But here’s the thing. Many users bear these minor annoyances accepting it as default behavior. Only when coming across articles like this one, people realize that the behavior can be or should be modified.
In my work, I often have to write code, write the documentation that goes with that code, create Web pages, and work on text restoration projects, and have written several formal papers while I was in school. I can include class notes here, too; I needed to write them for nearly every class.
I use Markdown for nearly all of my writing and it is a major time-saver for me.
In this article, I am going to share my experience with Markdown. You’ll be learning the following:
What is Markdown?
How does it work?
Markdown basic syntax and how to use them
What is Markdown?
If you are new to Markdown, it is a text-to-HTML conversion tool for web writers. Markdown files follow a specific syntax that is easy to read and just as easy to write. They are plain text files so they can be created using any text editor on any computer. These files can then be turned into Web pages – and Web pages are built using a markup called HTML.
Markdown then, is just a way to create Web pages without the need (or even know how) to write HTML code. Actually, Markdown is an great way to format plain text even if you don’t have to convert to HTML. Someone once described Markdown to me this way:
“It isn’t what you see is what you get, but what you see is what you mean”.
Markdown, however, is more than an easy formatting scheme, it is also a software tool that converts the plain text formatting to HTML.
This is why the syntax is important. If you want a title on your Web page, Markdown will create one based on the character(s) you use in front of your title. A sampling of some of Markdown’s syntax is shown this screenshot:
Markdown to HTML conversion
So how do I make this plain text to HTML conversion?
John Gruber’s Markdown is a Perl script that is run on the command line. Basically, it reads the Markdown text that you create and builds a Web page from it.
I will avoid the command line here since there are many outstanding Markdown editors that can do this conversion for you. Not only that, many of these editors will let you write your text and show you what the Web page will look like (called rendering) at the same time.
Markdown editors are generally set up to show two frames. The left frame is where you write your text and the right frame shows you what the formatted text will look like in HTML:
Most Markdown editors have two panes to write and preview the text
When you are finished with your text and are happy with it, simply save the Markdown file. This way, you’ll always have it in case you need to edit or rewrite later. Once the file is saved, you can have the editor export the markdown file to HTML.
The editor will create the Web page, using your Markdown as a reference. Your Markdown file will not be changed during an export – you will still have it – along with a separate, newly created HTML (Web page) file that you can put on a Web server.
Note: Many Markdown editors can also export your Markdown files to other formats, such as .doc, .docx, and .pdf. You can learn about those advanced setups, and extra software you might need, later on.
Basic Markdown Syntax
To get the new Markdown user up to speed quickly, I will limit this to cover the syntax I use most often. These, I believe will be the most helpful – you can be productive now while you learn more about what Markdown can do for you later on.
Write Headings
I normally use # characters to denote headings. There are six levels:
There is another heading style that uses lines underneath the text. I rarely use this type of heading since I am limited to only two. A double line, which is made with the = character, makes a H1 heading. A single line, made with the - character, makes a H2 heading:
Paragraphs are separated by a blank line (make sure that there is a blank line between paragraphs). Do not indent the first line at all. Indenting with a <Tab> or <spaces> has a different purpose in Markdown.
A paragraph is a block of text and should not be indented with spaces or tabs. It can have one line or many lines. To end a paragraph and start a new one, the <Enter> key is hit twice; paragraphs are separated by a blank line.
Line Breaks
Remember that with paragraphs, a blank line has to separate them and this is done by pressing twice on the <Enter> key. Markdown is strict about it.
Markdown does not support “hard-wrapped” or “fixed-line-length” paragraphs. That is, hitting the <Enter> key once will not force text to a new line. It may appear so in the editing window, but the HTML won’t show it.
Yet, there will be times when you may need to break up paragraphs with some way to break up a line. Markdown does have a way to do this but it may seem a little strange at first: a line break is made by ending a line with two or more spaces and then hitting the <Enter> key once.
Here is a working example of a short verse. Each line has two spaces at the end. The last line, since it’s the end of the verse, doesn’t have the extra spaces. Since it’s the end of the verse (paragraph), I hit the <Enter> key twice:
Baa, baa black sheep,
Have you any wool?.
Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
Three bags full.
Adding two spaces at the end of a line, to create a line break, can take some getting used to.
Horizontal Rules
Horizontal rules are great for splitting up text into sections.
Use three or more dashes -, underscores _, or asterisks * for horizontal rules, like so:
`---`
`***`
`___`
You can even put spaces between the characters:
`- - -`
I do not use horizontal rules very often in articles or papers, but they come in handy for me in journal entries, system logs, and class notes.
Emphasis on text with bold and italics
When you want a word or phrase to stand out and be noticed, you can either make it bold or italicized. Italics and bold text can be made on one of two ways. The first is by surrounding the text with asterisks *, while the second is to use underscores _.
To italicize a word or phrase, surround the text with one underscore or asterisk. To make a word or phrase bold, surround it with two underscores or asterisks:
This is *italics* made with asterisks.
This is _italics_ made with underscores.
This is **bold** made with asterisks.
This is __bold__ made with underscores.
Remember to use the same character. An asterisk on one side of a word or phrase, and an underscore on the side, will not work. The same character has to be on both sides of the word or phrase.
Block quotes
Block quotes are used for direct quotes. If you were writing a blog entry and you wanted to repeat something that Benjamin Franklin said, you could use a block quote.
A right angle bracket is used to specify a block quote:
> This is a block quote.
>> Use two right angle brackets if you want a block quote that is further indented.
Adding links in Markdown
Links are just plain cool. There are three ways to create links on basic Markdown, but I will only cover two here: Regular links and automatic links.
The third type of link, called reference links, are supported in basic Markdown and more advanced flavors. I want to get to started quickly. You can look up reference links when you are ready for that.
Regular links let you link to various websites. The name of the site, or a phrase you want to use, is placed in square brackets []. The actual link is inside parentheses ().
Visit [It's FOSS](https://itsfoss.com) today!
Automatic links are made with angle brackets <> surrounding the link. The link is an actual address (either a Web or email address). The link is spelled out and, when it is converted to HTML, the spelled out link becomes a working link.
This is useful for when you want to spell out the address in your text:
Adding images in Markdown
Links to images are almost identical to links to Web sites. The small difference between site links and images, is that image links begin with a bang (exclamation point) !
The name of the image, or a descriptive phrase of the image, is placed in square brackets []. The actual link is inside parentheses ().
You can embed images like so:
Here’s an example image link. It is a sample link, with no image, but it is a decent sample of how an actual link might look like:
Lists
Lists are made for many reasons. They can be used as ‘things to do’ items, topic elements in an outline, parts lists in an assembly project, and so on. There are two main types of lists: unordered and ordered.
Unordered lists are not numbered; these are the ‘bullet items’ we see in many documents. Ordered lists are numbered.
To create an ordered (numbered) list, just begin each line with a number, like so:
1. Item one.
2. Item two.
3. Item three.
Unordered lists are not numbered, but use either an asterisk *, a plus sign +, or a minus sign - at the beginning of each item on the list. I prefer to use either an asterisk or minus sign, but you get to choose:
* Item one.
+ Item two.
- Item three.
Sub-items can be added to both ordered and unordered lists by indenting, like so:
Markdown can do more than what I have described here. A huge percentage of my writing can be accomplished with the Markdown syntax I have covered here – and these are the items I use most often even in more complex projects.
If all of this seems too simple, it really is that easy. Markdown was built to simply the writing task, but you don’t have to take my word for it. Try it out! There is no need to install a Markdown editor; you can do this online. There are several good online Markdown editors. Here are three that I prefer:
John Gruber’s Dingus, Editor.md, and Dillinger. Editor.md and Dillinger will let you see your Markdown rendered as HTML in real time. Dingus doesn’t preview in real time, but there is a Markdown syntax cheat sheet on the page for reference.
Try out some of the examples in this article on either of these online editors. Try out some of your own ideas, too. This will let you get used to Markdown before possibly committing to learn more about it.
Managing partitions is serious business, especially when you have to remove them. I find myself doing this frequently, especially after using thumb drives as live disks and Linux installers because they create several partitions that I won’t need afterwards.
In this tutorial, I will show you how to remove partitions in Linux using both command line and GUI tools.
You delete the partition, you lose your data. Whenever you are playing with partitions, make sure backup your data. A slight typo or slip of finger could prove costly. Don’t say we didn’t warn you!
Remove disk partition using GParted [GUI Method]
As a desktop Linux user, you probably will be more comfortable and perhaps safer with a GUI-based tool.
For this tutorial, I am going to use GParted. It is a popular open source tool and it’s very easy and intuitive to use.
The first step is installing GParted if it isn’t already in your system. You should be able to find it in the software center of your distribution.
Alternatively, you can use your distribution’s package manager for installing it. In Debian and Ubuntu-based Linux distributions, you can use the apt install command:
sudo apt install gparted
Once installed, let’s open GParted. Since you are dealing with disk partitions, you’ll be required to have root access. It will ask for authentication and once it opens you should see a window like this one:
On the right-upper corner you can select the disk and in the lower screen the partition you want to remove.
Next, select the option Delete from the Partition menu:
The process is incomplete until you rewrite the partition table. This is a safety measure and it gives you the option to review the changes before confirming it.
To do this just click on the Apply All Operations button located in the toolbar and then Apply when asked for confirmation.
After hitting Apply, you will see a progress bar and a results message saying that all the operations were successful. You can close the message and the main window and consider your partition completely deleted from our disk.
Now that you are aware of the GUI method, let’s move on to the command line.
Delete partitions using fdisk command
Almost every Linux distribution comes with fdisk by default and we are going to use this tool today. The first thing you need to know is what device is assigned to the disk with the partitions you want to remove. To do that, type the following in the terminal:
sudo fdisk --list
This will print all the drives and partitions in our system as well as the assigned devices. You need to have root access in order for it work.
In this example, I will work with a USB drive that contains two partitions as shown below:
The device assigned in the system is /sdb and it has two partitions, sdb1 and sdb2. Now that you identified which device contains the partitions, you can start working on it by using fdisk and the path to the device:
sudo fdisk /dev/sdb
This will start fdisk in command mode. You can always press m to see a list of options.
Next, type p and press Enter to view the partition information and confirm that you are using the right device. If the wrong device is in use you can use the q command to exit fdisk and start the procedure again.
Now enter d to delete a partition and it will immediately ask for the partition number, that corresponds to the number listed in the Device column, which in this case are numbers 1 and 2 (as can be seen in the screen capture below) but can and will vary according to the current partition table.
Let’s remove the second partition by typing 2 and pressing Enter. You should see a message saying “Partition 2 has been deleted“, but actually, it hasn’t been removed yet. fdisk needs one more step to rewrite the partition table and apply the changes. Safety net, you see.
You need to type w and press Enter to make the changes permanent. No confirmation is asked.
After this, you should receive some feedback like the one here:
Now, use sudo fdisk --list /dev/sdb to view the current partition table of the device and you can see that the second partition is completely gone. You are done removing your partition using the terminal and fdisk command. Success!
Wrapping up
And so I end this tutorial on how to remove partitions in Linux using both the terminal and GUI tools. Remember, stay always on the safe side, backup your files before manipulating your partitions and double check that you are using the right device. Deleting a partition will delete everything in it with little to no chance of recovering it.
Brief: An open-source ambient noise player offering a variety of sounds to help you focus or fall asleep.
With the increase in the number of activities around you, it is often tough to keep calm and stay focused.
Sometimes music helps, but it also distracts in some cases. But, ambient noise? That is always soothing to hear. Who doesn’t want to hear birds chirping, rain falling and crowd chattering in a restaurant? Okay, may be not the last one but listening to natural sound could help in relaxing and focusing. This indirectly boots your productivity.
Recently, I came across a dedicated player which includes different sounds that could help anyone focus.
Play Different Ambient Sounds Using Blanket
Blanket is an impressive ambient noise player that features different sounds that can help you fall asleep or just regain focus by helping you forget about the surrounding distractions.
It includes nature sounds like rain, waves, birds chirping, storm, wind, water stream, and summer night.
Also, if you are a commuter or someone comfortable in a mildly busy environment, you can find sounds for trains, boat, city, coffee shop, or a fireplace.
If you are fond of white noise or pink noise, which combines all sound frequencies that humans can hear, that is available here too.
It also lets you autostart every time you boot, if that is what you prefer.
Install Blanket on Linux
The best way to install Blanket is from Flathub. Considering that you have Flatpak enabled, all you have to type in the terminal to install it is:
In case you’re new to Flatpak, you might want to go through our Flatpak guide.
If you do not prefer using Flatpaks, you can install it using a PPA maintained by a contributor in the project. For Arch Linux users, you can find it in AUR to easily install it.
In addition, you can also find packages for Fedora and openSUSE. To explore all the available packages, you can head to its GitHub page.
Listen to natural white noise music with Ambient Noise Music Player application In Ubuntu.
Closing Thoughts
The user experience for a simple ambient noise player is pretty good. I have a pair of HyperX Alpha S headphones and I must mention that the quality of the sounds is good to hear.
In other words, it is soothing to hear, and I will recommend you to try it out if you wanted to experience Ambient sounds to focus, get rid of your anxiety or just fall asleep.
Have you tried it yet? Feel free to share your thoughts below.
